Dr. Ross is internationally recognized for her work in pediatric cancer epidemiology. She has successfully developed several ancillary cross-disciplinary studies to augment epidemiological studies of childhood cancer. Further, as a natural progression of her research in childhood leukemia, she initiated two population-based molecular epidemiology studies of adult hematopoietic malignancies, anticipating that knowledge gained may be informative for all age groups. A K05 award will provide Dr. Ross protected research time (20% FTE) to pursue an innovative transdisciplinary approach toward understanding the etiology of childhood cancers. She plans to involve collaborators from other disciplines to address key questions. The overall outline of proposed research: 1) Application of murine models to augment etiological studies of childhood cancer;2) Exploration of new initiatives utilizing biospecimens for potential future integration into childhood cancer studies;and 3) Expansion of analyses within existing research studies, including infant leukemia and other childhood malignancies, the Children's Oncology Group Childhood Cancer Research Network, and a new statewide study of myelodysplastic syndrome. Dr. Ross'proposed mentoring activities include enriching and expanding (20% FTE) her already wide-ranging mentoring of students (undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral) and junior faculty. She is program director of an NIH-funded training grant (T32) dedicated to training the next generation of pediatric cancer epidemiologists. In addition to serving on several master's and dissertation committees, Dr. Ross has served as primary research mentor to 15 graduate students, 8 postdocs, and 7 junior faculty. Her proposed mentoring pool during the K05 award period will include: 1) T32 trainees;2) junior faculty developing careers in pediatric cancer research;and 3) at least three additional junior colleagues involved in K05-supported research activities. A K05 award will support both more concentrated and in-depth mentoring of future pediatric cancer researchers, as well as focus and stimulate new transdisciplinary research initiatives. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Dr. Ross is internationally known for her research that seeks to understand why some children get cancer. She also mentors several junior colleagues and trainees in pediatric cancer epidemiology. To find new breakthroughs, she proposes to intensify her efforts to explore childhood cancer using new data from animal models, newborn dried blood spots, as well as from her own existing studies. She will continue her mentoring activities, with special attention to teaching a transdisciplinary approach.